EARLY YEARS

Mariette Ghiai-Chamlou was born in Brussels, Belgium out of a white Russian family who had escaped the Soviet revolution.
Although her mother was a relative of the famed Trotsky, they had to run into exile due to their close ties with
the Imperial family as her maternal grand father was a high officer of the Tzar.

After completing her studies at the Athenee Royale d'Uccle, she continued her graduate studies at
the Academie Royale des Beaux Arts where she studied drawing, painting, fashion design, sculpture and double majored in
Interior Design as well as Fashion Design with high honor and various National prizes and distinctions.

In 1953, she decided to join her husband Heydar Ghiai-Chamlou whom she has met and married in Belgium and continue
her carrier in Iran in collaboration with her husband.

IMPERIAL YEARS

M.G.C. quickly gained trust and admiration in the Architectural milieu and was commissioned various interior design projects
among which the decoration for the palace of HIH Princess Chams Pahlavi, the older sister of HIM the Shah of Iran.
When the birth of Prince Reza Cyrus Pahlavi ( Heir to the throne) was announced, she was in charge of decorating
Princess Chahnaz's Palace as well as the Nursery that was to room the newly born Heir.

M.G.C. went on to decorate many luxury homes designed by her husband while creating mosaic frescoes and various
avant garde Architectural elements widely praised in the early sixties.
She also spent some seven years in the productions of voluminous specifications for the interior design of the
Imperial palaces for HIM the Shah of Iran.

In 1976, M.G.C. Produced a book on her husband's design of the Senate House and attracted much praise for many
heads of states. Her book has been incorporated at the US library of congress as well as most major universities
and schools of Architecture.
During that same year, M.G.C. was offered a professorship at the Farah Pahlavi University where she tough
comparative history of furniture design.

POST IMPERIAL TIME

When the 1979 Islamic Coup d'Etat deposed the Imperial Family, M.G.C. followed her husband into exile in Europe.
She then partnered with her three Architect sons into reopening her husband's firm in San Francisco and is currently
living in Paris, France.

M.G.C. is actively participating in various cultural and humanitarian activities.
She is vice president of the Farhange-Iran foundation and an active member of the Rudaki Association.
She is also hosting an Artistic and Scientific Forum at her home in Paris.